At the
turn of the century, H. H. Heller built a hotel and saloon in Casmalia, a town
that was exploding due to the combination of the new rail lines and the local
oil booms. In 1920 Palu Vaglia and his wife purchased the facility and opened a
restaurant to help fill the hotel, providing their guests with home cooked Italian
meals.
25 years
later Palu’s son, Mario, converted the restaurant and hotel into a steakhouse.
The Hitching Post opened October 12, 1946 and has been serving what are claimed
to be the best steaks in California. In fact they claim to be the best
steakhouse west of the Mississippi.
The
Ostini family bought The Hitching Post in 1952, and has been opening it 7
nights a week for the last 64 years. As we took in the ambiance we heard couple
after couple ordering various steaks. But there was one consistent theme – all were
ordered medium rare! You wouldn’t hear that anywhere that didn’t have excellent
steaks, but honestly, we didn’t hear even a single table (other than ours) that
ordered other than medium rare. Here is my rib eye being tended to by the chef
on the original hickory grill.
If you
can find this place, it is worth the visit. Even early on a weekday it was
packed. Yummmm!
Talk to
you soon!
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